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Korean Peruvians (Spanish: Coreano Peruanos) are Peruvians of Korean descent. There isn't an official estimate of how many Koreans live in Peru, but they range from 1,000 (those who directly came from Korean parentage) to about 20,000 of any Korean ancestry.
All of them are descendants of victims of Korean War after they were brought by Peruvian soldiers who helped in the war. Most lived in cities, especially Lima, but, unlike other Asian Peruvians, they only have little influence since they speedily assimilated to Peruvian society. They may be mistakenly Chinese or Japanese since all Asians in Latin America are called chinos.
Many Korean Peruvians left in the 1960s and 1970s because of continuous poverty, dictatorship of Juan Velasco Alvarado, and the 1970 earthquake. Most went to the United States, while the rest to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and even South Korea. They only speak Spanish instead of Korean, but educated Korean Peruvians speak English. Most Korean Peruvians are about equally divided between Christians (mostly Protestants) and Mahayana Buddhists, but they are more Christians than Buddhists.
